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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Disneyland Trip Report and Ideas!

This time, were going to talk Disneyland.

Last week, I made my first trip to Disneyland and spent
nearly 5 days at the parks. I knew going in that it was widely considered to be
the best resort but I was still a little surprised at just how amazing and superior
it was to any other theme park I’ve visited.

In general terms, almost every attraction, land and
restaurant at Disneyland is better than its Disney World counterpart. There are
exceptions, which I will note along with the true highlights of the resort. I
also know a lot of readers here are most familiar with Disneyland Paris, so
I’ll give comparisons there too when appropriate. So Ill go through each park land
by land with some thoughts that are part trip report, part design ideas, and
wrap up with some overall comments.

Disneyland is just about the perfect park. The history is
all around you and its age has allowed it to evolve and improve into a
practically flawless park. I don’t think that is a crazy or unheard of
statement. If there is any major problem with the park, it is predominately not
the attractions or design, but the crowd flow and infrastructure, which is
being stressed by the ever growing crowds. I’ll come back to this issue as we
go.

Main Street is smaller in total proportion, but really
doesn’t seem like it. The scale seems natural. That’s going to be a common
observation of this park. The proportions and scales all seem innately correct
and perfect, making a much more naturally charming park. The castle is smaller,
but now that I have seen it in person, suddenly Cinderella’s Castle in Orlando
looks too big. Same with the Main Street Buildings. The scale feels like it is
what it was always meant to be. I also very much appreciate that this Main
Street still has divided shops that sell unique-ish items. So much better than
the endless Emporiums of Orlando and Paris.

Main Street also has some great attractions that don’t get a
lot of mention. I specifically mean Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Main
Street Vehicles. Lincoln’s actual show is well put together and impressive, but
the better part is the preshow rooms filled with Disneyland art, a large model
of opening day Disneyland, and the adjacent Disney Gallery store, filled with
incredible art for sale. I liked these spaces because they demonstrated the
real history and evolution of the parks, something that Disneyland is much more
willing to acknowledge than the other resorts. The Main Street Vehicles were
also fantastic for their kinetic contributions. There were always multiple
vehicles on the street throughout the day, and it really made it feel like a
real lively city. I’m a fan of any transportation based ride, and these are
among the best, even if often overlooked. These are the kinds of little
un-obvious attractions that separate an amusement parks from a themed space like
Disneyland.

I was never able to see the Main Street Bypasses that were
opened earlier this year, but I can see how they are needed. Main Street was a
little narrow and was difficult to travel at peak times. As crowds grow, those
bypasses may become more important, and maybe a permanent arcade like Paris one
at least one side might be a better solution.

Last for Main Street, I’ve got to say that big trees are a
nice change. The tree density throughout the park adds more than you could ever
expect, especially in Fantasyland, where both Orlando and Paris are lacking in
full grown forest.

Adventureland was probably my favorite land and I don’t feel
the need to change much of anything because it is complete as it is. Classic
Tiki Room with a Dole Whip, the Jungle (or Jingle) Cruise, and the Treehouse,
even if with Tarzan, are all great attractions. The jungle vegetation was
incredibly dense and convincing and really made you forget you were in a city.

I found new appreciation for the Tiki Room while watching
others during the show. To me and other knowledgeable in theme parks, the Tiki
Room may be a little basic and unexciting compared to more modern attractions.
But to the average guest, the singing birds and plants were something they had
never seen and captured their interest. Kids and adults sat amazed at the songs
above. Maybe everything doesn’t need to be exciting and technological. Also, I
had the pleasure of having Tiki Maynard as the Cast Member host, and that was
quite a show (look him up if you don’t know who he is).

The Tarzan overlay to the Treehouse also wasn’t as bad as
expected. Even though it was an animated property outside of Fantasyland, which
I normally oppose on principle, it perfectly fit into the tone of the land and
was not a thematic contradiction or distraction from the environment. Maybe my
animated property philosophy needs reconsideration.

And now I get to the Indiana Jones Adventure. This is the
best theme park attraction I have ever experienced. Spiderman at IOA is a close
second. Indiana Jones is a total attraction from queue to end. One of the best
queues I have seen, a fully themed environment (even the disabled elevators
were fully themed), an innovative ride system, and a super detailed attraction
interior. The main room filled with flames was the highlight, and I especially
liked it because of the visibility of multiple vehicles at the same time and
the kinetic action all around. Even with the last third of the attraction in
weird darkness and flat blacklight paint, this attraction was an incredibly fun
ride. I rode it three times, and could do for even more. A refurb to reimagine
those last dark rooms could really elevate this even higher.

Next, Frontierland was good but lighter on content that the
other comparable parks, and it will only get smaller with Star Wars. Big
Thunder is the same as Orlando and lesser than Paris, but still good as the
primary element of this land.

The best part of Frontierland though is the river and all its traffic. Just like in every other case that I have already mentioned, moving elements make this land feel alive and much larger than it is. I hope that this is not too affected when the changes come next year.

New Orleans Square is next, and another land that could
never need any changes. Pirates is a classic, the land is immersive, the food
is great, and it has fantastic atmosphere. I only had two problems. First, I
wish I could have seen the original Haunted Mansion, not Haunted Mansion
Holiday, even though this is one of the attractions that many consider to be
better at Disney World. The Holiday version was entertaining, but I think I
would have enjoyed the original more.

The other problem with this land is crowd flow. This land
appeared to have the narrowest walkways and the most bottleneck points, so it
became chaotic to get through the land. Specifically, the path past Haunted
Mansion towards Critter Country was nearly impossible. This might be a
challenge to fix, but I think it needs to happen. Crowds are growing, and it’s
becoming miserable and nearly dangerous to move through some of these areas. The
intersections with Adventureland and New Orleans Square was also bad because of
the entrance to Pirates.

So therefore, I never made it to Critter Country, so I don’t
have much a comment. I wasn’t upset by this, because it was too cold to ride
Splash Mountain and I wasn’t interested in Winnie the Pooh. I passed it by
train at least. I do hope that pathways can be reconfigured so that this area
is no longer as isolated.

Going back to Fantasyland. This was a large land with a lot
of good and classic attractions. I didn’t anticipate how lush and spread out
this land was compared to the other Fantasylands I have seen. It was as
sprawling as Paris but a fully grown forest, which made so big of an
environmental difference. It also meant each little area couldn’t see the rest
of the land, which kept the reveal of a sight like the Small World façade really
controlled and more effective.

I got to ride some classic dark rides that I had never seen
before, such as Toad, and ride familiar favorites like Snow White. My favorite
of the five however was Alice in Wonderland, just because of how unique it was
with the outdoor section. It was also fascinating to see the evolution of the
dark ride, from the painted flats in Toad, to full sets in Pinnochio, and then new
projection aided environments in Alice. I only wish that the projection face
figures had actually made their way into the dark rides.

The problem with Fantasyland is just like those before. Its
pathways cause a lot of congestion, but specifically at Parade time. The main
cross path from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland intersects the parade path and
causes traffic chaos with people trying to get from the left to the right side
of the park. This might be a place to look into a traffic flow solution. I also
think Fantasyland could do with an expansion of one or two more rides, possibly
in place of the Fantasyland Theater or into Toontown.

Toontown is another land I did not spend much time in because
of crowds and cold. Plus I wasn’t interested in the Meet and Greets or houses,
so I just made a quick walk through the land to see the architecture. It seems
to be a perfectly nice and well themed land that fulfills its purpose. If
needed for expansion, I don’t think it would be a big loss, but if it survives,
it works as a solid land in the park.

Last, we move onto the land with the most problems, but the
currently most popular attraction of the resort. Tomorrowland has some good
parts, but a lot of things that need adjustment and the potential for three or
four or more new attractions. Whereas the rest of the lands in the park seem to
have this innate history and resolved masterplan and organization, Tomorrowland
feels messy and temporary. I don’t want to be harsh, it is a good land at
times, but is far behind Paris, the best version of this type of land, and
Orlando, where there is a bit more organization. So I’m going to try to do a
lot to this land.

I should also talk about the Star Wars stuff too,
specifically Hyperspace Mountain. Wow that was cool and is a great example for
the draw of a Star Wars attraction. It consistently had the longest lines and I
never heard someone come off it disappointed. A permanent, well themed Star
Wars land is needed fast. And now that I have seen The Force Awakens, I see a
lot of potential and am very excited for where the these lands are going. I’m
also very glad for the decision to let Star Wars create its own land and not
overlay Tomorrowland.

Now across the Resort, we come to California Adventure. I
followed the expansions closely and was excited to see what exactly this park
had become. I was happily surprised by the total park experience and really
enjoyed my short time there. I say short because even with the additions, I
still could feel that this park hasn’t reached its potential. The new additions
were noticeably great but revealed just how much more work is needed to the unchanged
areas. Paradise Pier and parts of Hollywood need help next. Still, a relatively
solid park that is far better than Disney Studios Paris and a bit ahead of
Hollywood Studios. Also, I should say that there are much less traffic flow
issues here, likely because it was designed as a modern park with wide pathways
and no real bottlenecks.

Buena Vista Street is a very well designed entrance to the
park and a good companion to Main Street. I really enjoy the architecture and
tone of this time period, so I always knew I would like this street. Again, it
was nice to have the kinetics of the working Red Car Trolley and the various
performing groups. Somehow my entrances were timed so that I saw Five and Dime
perform about 6 times over a day and a half.

One strange comment about the land. I had the opportunity to
talk to a design professional and brought up how nice this land was. He
mentioned that the land actually looks a lot like many of the large outdoor
malls in southern California, like the Grove. The owner of the malls was a fan
of Disneyland and themed architecture, so his malls ended up being Main
Street-esque with a turn of the century Hollywood theme. And now, Buena Vista
Street was designed with the same theme, so consequently looks like a local
mall. How odd.

On to Hollywoodland, which has some really great parts and
some great potential for new additions. First, I love the architecture of the
main street, even with the fake street end mural. Next, I love the Aladdin
Musical and it is a crime that were losing it for more Frozen. Last, this
version of the Animation building is by far the best, especially because of the
central room with the projected montages.

Besides those things, this land has a
lot of room for future change, mostly in the northern backlot style area.
Monsters Inc. is a fairly good ride that can stay if thematically appropriate,
but besides that, there is a lot of room here and three or four large
soundstage showbuildings for additions. I think this half of the land is the
prime spot for the next major addition to the resort.

A Bug’s Land, right between Hollywood and Carsland is
another nicely themed but low substance land. I understand its purpose was a
speedy addition of kid friendly rides to the thrill heavy park. I was actually surprised
at how nice and thorough the theming was, especially at night when the land
glows. Even so, this is a land that I would not have a problem with losing for
the sake of expansion to another land.

Carsland was highly anticipated and is obviously the high
point of the park, as it was always the most crowded. I’m not sure how I felt
about the land though. I might have built it up too much and it couldn’t have
delivered. That doesn’t mean its not good. The street was faithfully recreated
from the movie and really detailed and clever. The rockwork was breathtaking
and looked impossible. Radiator Springs Racers was fun, even if short, and had
the most impressive and source accurate animatronic figures I have ever seen
(specifically Mater – wow). But it still felt lacking as a total themed
environment. Maybe my best comment is that I distinctly heard many say “wow, it
looks just like the movie,” meaning its always going to just be a derivative
from the source movie, not a land with its own life.

The exception here is when the neon comes on and the sun
goes down. Then there is a whole new life to the land, and it is much more
kinetic, engaging, and interesting. Again, I don’t want to be overly critical. It’s
a good land and a great ride, but not a great headlining land that it is built
up to be.

Paradise Pier is the other land that has some flaws and
potential to grow. The only real problem here is that it is still mostly
carnival style rides that are not as unique as the rest of the park. Toy Story
is a good addition, and California Screamin is a fantastic coaster, but the
land could use one or two more non-spinner attractions. Expansion may be
possible underneath the coaster or on the west side, by the spinner rides.

Another interesting observation in this land is based on Toy
Story Midway Mania and The Little Mermaid dark ride. Both of these are clones
with attractions in Orlando and were both developed for both resorts at the
same time. Interestingly, both attractions were far better in California and
seemed to fit their surroundings infinitely better. Toy Story is themed as a
Midway game and set right in the middle of a Midway. Mr. Potato Head is designed
as a barker and here is actually placed as a barker. Little Mermaid was
designed as a basic but charming C or D ticket dark ride with a façade and
queue that doesn’t oversell it as the centerpiece of a huge expansion. It’s
almost like these attractions were designed for Disneyland and then just cloned
over to Orlando and stuck in where they fit the closest.

Last land, Grizzly Peak and the surrounding areas are a
really cool and really environmental land, again because of the trees and landscaping.
Trees and density are lacking in the rest of the park, but they make this land.
One problem here is the lack of attractions since there are really only two of
them, one when it is too cold for rafting, and then zero since Soarin is a
direct clone. This could do with another attraction to flesh out the national
park environment. However, I don’t believe there is much room.

Now that I’ve talked through both parks quickly, I have some
final comments comparing the resorts.

First, I have to mention the food. Disneyland food, from
snacks and counter service to table service, blows Disney World and Paris food
away. It is shocking how much better and how much more variety there is. Burgers
and chicken are not required to be on every menu apparently. Standout meals
were the sundried tomato and pesto chicken pasta at Paradise Pizza and Pasta,
and the ribs in Flo’s V8 Café. Both were counter service, served on real
plates, and reasonably priced. Table service was great too. I ate at Café Orleans
and Carthay Circle and both were great food for a theme park setting.

Another interesting comparison is the crowd distribution in
the resort. So I visited during a very busy time, not quite as bad as it will
be at Christmas, but pretty bad. But the actual queue times were not as bad as
an average day at Disney World. From what I can tell, this is both because
there are significantly more attractions to spread crowds, and less attractions
that use Fastpass, which usually always makes lines longer. This made a much
better park experience and it really makes sense. More rides equals shorter
lines, and this is one of Disneylands best strengths.

Last, the quality of the rides are almost universally better
at Disneyland. The rides are usually longer, like Pirates and Small World, have
more detailed sets and special effects, like Space Mountain and Buzz, and
better maintained, like many of the classic dark rides. Also, like I mentioned,
modern clones seem to make more sense there than at other resorts. The only
exception to this rule is Tower of Terror, which lacks a 4th
dimension room, and Haunted Mansion, which is shorter and less maintained.

Shows, including both the nighttime entertainment and the
traditional performances, are also much better. Part of this is just because many
shows are relatively new for the 60th and are often refreshed.
Mickey and the Magical Map was superior to any Orlando or Paris show just
because there was actually a cast of multiple live singers and a musician,
instead of just one or two. Aladdin was full Broadway quality and overshadowed
any other theme park performance. The street entertainment was varied and
impressive. Both World of Colors were technically impressive and pretty good
with content. Fantasmic had better scenes, was much closer and more intimate,
and an overall more impressive experience. And last, Paint the Night was a
truly modern response to the classic light parade typology. (I never saw
Disneyland Forever, so no comment there. It was cancelled every night I tried
to see it, or 4 of the 5 nights I was there.)

So in just about every way, Disneyland is a better resort.

So I immensely enjoyed both parks and don’t think there is a
huge amount of things that need to be changed. That doesn’t mean I’m not going
to try. I will be starting on a site plan soon, and will work on it through the
next weeks and months until I am happy with it.

For Disneyland, the main focuses are going to be
infrastructure and traffic flow changes throughout the park, a complete
reworking of Tomorrowland, and smaller additions in Fantasyland, Frontierland,
and maybe Critter Country. For Tomorrowland, a new consistent story and theme
will be an important first step. I would like to start it out original, without
an IP basis, but there are one or two IPs that I think could have a place in this
land, specifically Tron, one of my favorite fallbacks.

DCA needs more work, but doesn’t need any infrastructure
changes. The main addition I want to bring to DCA is a more structured park
identity that explains and supports the existing lands and suggests more additions.
For instance, I want to restructure the existing lands as manifestations of the
California spirits of adventure, creation, and fun (as in Grizzly Peak, Hollywood
and Cars Land and Marvel, and Paradise Pier). So with this new identity, I am
going to look into moderate additions in Grizzly Peak and Paradise Pier to flesh
out their themes, and major additions of Marvel and Pixar and possibly more to
the creation areas. This park has a lot of potential that I look forward to
figuring out.

Im excited to start work on this resort and excited to share
my ideas later this year. I’ll keep you updated as I put it together.

In the meantime, I’m still working on a new post for an
original attraction in EPCOT to be posted sometime in the next few weeks. And
then next year, we will continue with a new post a month.

As I am putting together my schedule for posts, I want to
hear what kinds of projects you want to see. I have a few posts started, including
attractions based on Indiana Jones, UP, The Incredibles, and Tangled, but want
your suggestions. Original attractions? Overlays? Park expansions? New Parks?
Any particular properties? Let me know in the comments, and I will take your
ideas into consideration.

9 comments
:

Currently in Disney World and using an iPhone, but I will say this makes me interested in going to Disneyland. I'm curious if this will result in you redoing your WDW maps and updating them with ideas from this park.

I definitely think a trip to Disneyland is worth it for a theme park fan. Even if you disagree about one resort being better than the other, it's still a enlightening and fun experience. And again, I want to say that my new views of Disneyland don't make me think that Disney World is bad, just that the comparison has made me realize alot of areas where one might be better than the other.

Reworking the WDW parks is a possibility, but I may not do it at a total park scale like what I first posted. I may do alternate plans for specific lands, like an alternate Fantasyland expansion or Tomorrowland, and let the original park plans stand as my comprehensive design.

I will add the Mythica to the possibilities list, though I will admit I dont have much knowledge in that kind of source material. Maybe a land somewhere instead. I'll think about it.

Yes Universal Orlando is on the list, but will have to be a little later this year. It takes a good bit of time to draw the existing park plans that I then edit. Disneyland resort is first priority and then Universal Orlando. But I definitely want to make a plan for that soon!

If you need help with the Mythica park concept, I'd love to help. I've actually got quite a bit of ideas, some based on IdealBuildouts, some my own. Also something I'd like to see you do is Beastly Kingdom considering that after visiting the park two days ago, it's glaringly obvious to me that Pandora simply does not fit from a thematic standpoint, especially since most people I've meet forget Avatar existed, despite being at this time(and unlikely to keep being so if Star Wars keeps going as it is) the highest grossing movie of all time. Beastly Kingdom at least fits with the parks theming.

Even though its not perfect, I think Avatar is going to work. Just based on the environmental design, not the story or anything. If that is good enough, no one is going to care about the movie or remember it once it fades away.

But yeah, something better could go there. I'm always hesitant to go after Beastly Kingdom, at least as it was originally imagined, because it has such a defined legend and other designers interpretations are frankly better than I could do.

So my current thought is to come at it from your suggested Mythica theme actually, so that it has its own identity separate from the legend of Beastly Kingdom. Some of the same concepts as the original really. But defined as Mythological Creatures instead of Fantastic Creatures.

I think that could be really interesting. I'll put that towards the top of the list.

Personally, Mythica makes more sense to me as it's own theme park rather than a land, but that's just me. It just feels like a natural idea for a fifth WDW Theme Park. I'd almost make it like Epcot, for Myths. If one wants to use Disney properties, it's not hard to do as Disney already has properties for Hercules(Greek/Roman Myths), Atlantis(Atlantis Myth), Thor(Norse Myths), Mulan, or though more with Mushu(Chinese Myths), and Sword in the Stone(King Arthur/British Myths). In fact the only thing that doesn't have a Disney property that is somewhat related to it is Eygptian Mythology, though they did appear in the old Hercules animated series. And like I said earlier, you really don't need the properties, just explore the myths.

As for Beastly Kingdom, to be honest, from what little I remember of the concept, there was indead a Mythological part to it, as in some of the concept of it, the far left side seemed to be devoted to Mythological based creatures(with what looked to be some kind of Mount Olympus ride or the like), while the right was fantasy based creatures, and the very bottom of the area was entire the Fantasia Gardens. The thing is there is no map that I know of for Beastly Kingdom.